Hospitals use a variety of patient monitoring equipment to alert them of potential patient needs. Many monitoring devices act in a stand-alone fashion, providing only an audible alarm when an alert condition occurs. Some of these systems provide an auxiliary contact closure output, which when connected to a nurse call system, allows a generic monitor alarm to appear at the door light, at the nurse console and hallway displays. However, not all nurse call systems are installed with auxiliary input receptacles. Even if they are, connecting the monitoring equipment to the receptacle is a manual process that requires time, skill, and has the potential for error in either the process of connecting the equipment or in the process of uniquely labeling the alarm type within the nurse call based on the type of monitoring equipment: i.e. IV drip, ventilator, or heart monitor.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide systems and methods which minimize the need for independently connecting various monitoring equipment to dedicated or auxiliary contacts, and which exploit current communication and alerting capabilities for enhanced functionalities.